From the shadows
by Shadows in the Clouds
Summary: ENDGAME SPOILERS! Summary inside.


Bucky meets Morgan Stark for the first time at her dad's funeral. He vows to never let another Stark get hurt.

Just a little thought I had while re-watching Endgame yesterday. Enjoy and cry along with me.

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The first time Bucky ever set eyes on Morgan Stark he was attending her dad's funeral. It took place 3 days after Tony Stark had sacrificed his life, his happiness, to use the stones and vanquish Thanos once and for all.

Bucky would remember that day for the rest of his life. He remembered Rhodes, Mrs. Potts, and the Spider-Kid crying at their dead saviour's side. He remembered Steve falling to his knees and crying out in anguish and anger. He remembered everyone being happy that the fight was over, but at what cost.

The day of the funeral was the day after the one they held for Natasha. Bucky had put on a suit and allowed Sam to lead him out to the river with the others. That was when Bucky saw Morgan. He looked out towards the lake and saw this tiny little girl all dressed in black with eyes identical to her dad's.

He remembered Morgan sticking close to her mother and some man named Happy, but at the insistence of Pepper Morgan went and talked to some of the others. She mostly hung out with her "older brother" Peter. Bucky kept to the sides of everything. He may be feeling horrible about Tony Stark's death, but most of that was guilt over never apologizing to the man. Steve may not have blamed him for his actions, but Bucky still did. And looking out at the crowd towards the little girl, Bucky's guilt tripled. He may have killed two Starks and injured a third, but that would never happen again.

And that was the day Bucky vowed to protect Morgan Stark with his life.

.

.

.

Turns out that was harder then you'd expect. Turns out that Morgan was exactly like her late father. A magnet for trouble and too smart for her own good.

Now, Bucky never talked or contacted the Stark's directly. He worked from the shadows. So, when there was a strange man spying on Morgan while she was outside at recess one day during her first week at school, Bucky quickly took care of him.

When Peter and Morgan were out getting juice pops and a guy with a gun radioed in about shooting up the store where the kids were, Bucky was there to alert the police.

When Morgan quickly progressed through school and was sitting in a class full of high schoolers at the tender age of 12, he was there to keep the older ones from bullying her after she saw Morgan went home in tears one day.

The rest of the Avengers, as well as Pepper, knew that Bucky was doing all of this. Nobody said a thing. Everybody wanted to look out for Morgan and Bucky was doing a damn fine job of it. Morgan was safe. He knew that Tony would have been proud of his little girl. When Morgan graduated from MIT when she was 18 with her first doctorate all of the remaining Avengers were there, Bucky included.

That night while everyone was celebrating Morgan's achievement, Bucky saw her sneaking out. He followed her outside. Morgan hadn't gone far. She just sat on the doc outside the house with an old photograph in her hand. There were tears in her eyes and Bucky just knew he had to go and comfort her.

"I'm sure you've heard this a dozen times today, but your dad would have been proud of you." Spoke Bucky softly so he wouldn't spook her.

Morgan just shrugged her shoulder and looked down at the photograph in her hands. It was a picture of Tony playing with Morgan. She must have been about three in the picture. She looked pretty little. But what drew Bucky's eye was not the picture, but the tattoo on Morgan's right wrist. There were the words "I Love You 3000" and a little mini arc reactor. It was a tattoo for her dad. Morgan noticed him staring and spoke up.

"You know, this was the last thing my dad ever said to me. And it wasn't really even him. It was a recorded message he left for me and my mom before that big fight. This is all left of him." Whispered Morgan as she tried to keep her voice from cracking. Bucky just gave her a hug to comfort her.

"Morgan, I know your dad may not be here anymore, but from what I've heard from everyone else, he sure loved you a damn lot. He's somewhere watching over you."

Morgan was silent for a moment before she decided to speak up again.

"I guess I should thank you for looking out for me all these years." Bucky's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I've always known it was you doing all the protecting from the shadows. You may have been one of the best assassins out there, but I've been raised by the Avengers. I know when people are being sneaky and you sir are being sneaky." That brought out a small smile on Morgan's face and Bucky smiled back.

"Come on. Let's head back inside. It's getting chilly out and your mom and uncles will kill me if you get sick." Morgan looked forlornly out towards the water before nodding.

"Alright. I'm pretty sure dad would come back and haunt you if you let me get sick too."

So, the duo got up from their spot to head back to the house. Before they left, Morgan blew one last kiss out towards the river before she ran off to go talk to her mom and Peter. And somewhere out there, Tony Stark smiled back at her. His daughter was safe. He knew he could rest easy.

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I hope you enjoyed this. Comments and kudos are appreciated. Feel free to check out all my other Marvel fics on my profile. -Shadows


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